


Sometimes Little Aces Do Big Things

by dangerouspheels



Series: Sometimes... (a check, please! series) [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Homophobic Language, M/M, Mentions of Violence, handjobs, jack and kent work through their shit, the boys go to a bar, the explicit part happens in chapter 3, the rest is pretty mild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:20:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9505067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangerouspheels/pseuds/dangerouspheels
Summary: Why wasn’t he crying on the floor of the bathroom in his scarcely decorated penthouse? Maybe because he had finally gotten to hit Whits in the face. Maybe because Jack had finally acknowledged his existence again.However, another person who should get some credit for Kent’s relatively stable emotional condition was the giant Russian man whose off-ice personality seemed to be the complete opposite of everything he stood for on the ice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I finished the first chapter of this new patater fic! I got a lot of lovely reactions to my last zimbits fic, and I hope I can keep the quality up! (me writing quality stories lol, good joke)  
> Reading the first story in the series is kinda necessary to understand the storyline of this, so go do that first if you haven't yet!  
> Thank you so much for reading this!

Theoretically, Kent knew he had fucked up. He had managed to be a closeted NHL star for 6 years and he hadn’t been planning to change that anytime soon, but then Whits just had to be a homophobic asshole to Jack, his Jack – even though Kent knew that he had lost every privilege to call Jack ‘his’ a long time ago – and he just couldn’t take it anymore. He could handle players being bigoted asshats in the locker room. After all, some vaguely homophobic jokes between teammates were nothing compared to what he’d have to face if he came out. However, when he had heard Tim say that stuff to Jack on the ice – during which he even unknowingly insulted Kent personally – Kent had lost it.

He hadn’t thought about what he was doing. He hadn’t consciously made the decision to out himself to his homophobic teammate and everyone else within hearing distance. He just wanted to be there for Jack Zimmermann for once, like he hadn’t been all those years ago, and he hadn’t considered the possibility of ruining everything he had built up so carefully during the past six years.

 

So why wasn’t he crying on the floor of the bathroom in his scarcely decorated penthouse? Maybe because he had finally gotten to hit Whits in the face. Maybe because Jack had finally acknowledged his existence again. Kent knew this didn’t mean that everything was forgiven and forgotten – hell, he wasn’t even sure he would ever be able to forgive Jack for just ignoring his entire existence for years – but Jack seemed happy, and maybe they could work towards not being strangers anymore. Maybe they would manage to be friends again someday.

However, another person who should get some credit for Kent’s relatively stable emotional condition was the giant Russian man whose off-ice personality seemed to be the complete opposite of everything he stood for on the ice.

Kent had been successfully hiding from the press – and, if he was honest with himself, from everyone else – in a quiet corridor, when Alexei Mashkov, the Falcs’ giant defenseman, walked by. Kent unconsciously noted that the Russian looked great in a suit, but that was beside the point. Kent prayed to every god he knew that the man wouldn’t notice him – Mashkov seemed to be very supportive of Jack, but after the last game in Providence, Kent didn’t expect him to be a big fan of Kent – but the gods weren’t with him that night.

To Kent’s surprise, Mashkov sat down next to him on the floor before even saying a word.

“What are you doing here?” Kent asked when it became clear that the other man wasn’t going to break the silence. Smooth, Parson.

“Don’t know,” Mashkov said after thinking for a few seconds, “look for little Aces captain, I think? I ask your teammate where I find you, but he didn’t know, so I look in hallways for a while until I find you.”

Kent didn’t know what to think about that. Mashkov had been looking for him? Should he be scared?

“Why?” he asked cautiously.

Mashkov furrowed his brows in frustration. “You– sorry, this is being hard to say in English.”

Kent nodded and made a bold move: he patted Mashkov’s thigh to comfort him. “It’s okay. I’ve had a lot of Russian rookies, I know it’s hard.”

“I’m not rookie anymore, I am in America many years,” Mashkov said.

“Yes, and I learned French for many years and I still barely know more than “Bonjour. Je m’appelle Kent et je joue au hockey.” Don’t beat yourself up for it, you’re doing fine. Now what did you want to say?” 

Mashkov breathed in and out deeply and relaxed slightly. “Okay. What I’m wanting to say is, you are a very brave man, Kent Parson.”

Kent blinked. “What?”

“Zimmboni very nervous before playing Aces, and I hear stories, so I’m know you probably have bad history. But you drop everything to defend him on ice anyway. That is very brave.”

Kent didn’t know Mashkov. He had never talked to him outside of the rink, and the only interaction on the ice had been a threat after he knocked the Falconers’ goalie over during the game in Providence. Why was this man being so nice to him?

“Thanks, Mashkov-”

“Alexei,” the Russian interrupted.

“Yeah, okay. Alexei.” Kent sighed. “I wish I was as brave as you think I am. I didn’t think about what I was doing. If you had asked me before the game to come out for Jack’s sake, I would’ve most likely said no.”

“But you did it anyway.”

Kent turned his head to find Mashkov- Alexei looking down at him. Kent didn’t know how this could be the same man who looked so intimidating on the ice. Everything about Alexei screamed warmth and kindness: his smooth features, a gentle smile that reached his warm brown eyes, the way he kept his voice low and soft despite having the loudest voice in probably the entire universe – the fact Kent had watched enough Falcs TV videos to know this was quite concerning.

Kent realized that he was staring and quickly averted his eyes back to his lap.

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

Alexei didn’t say anything but nodded thoughtfully, and as he got up to leave Kent alone, Kent realized he didn’t want him to.

“Wait.”

Alexei turned around.

“Stay?” Kent almost whispered and he kept staring down at his lap to make sure he wouldn’t have to look Alexei in the eyes. Why was he being like this? He was Kent Parson, and Kent Parson hadn’t needed anyone in years.

It wasn’t like he actually expected Alexei to stay. After all, no one ever stayed when Kent needed them.

Kent had to blink back tears when he felt Alexei sink back to the ground next to him.

“Do you think they will tell anyone?” he asked when he felt like he could use his voice without bursting out in tears.

“Falcs? No, are good guys. Aces? I don’t know. Tim White is not nice guy.”

Kent let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “No, Whits won’t say anything. If I made the franchise choose between me and him, they would throw him out without a second thought, and he knows that.”

“Good. We keep little Ace’s secret as long as he wants it to be secret,” Alexei promised.

“Thank you,” Kent said, “for everything. For being so nice to me, even though you probably hate me after that game in Providence, and for wasting your time by sitting here with the opponent’s captain while you should be out celebrating.”

Alexei laughed – Kent liked that sound – and said: “I don’t hate you, Kent Parson. What happens on ice, stays on ice.” He was quiet in thought for a moment before adding: “You should come celebrate with us.”

That made Kent look up at Alexei in surprise. “What?”

“You know what I say. Come with us to bar.”

“But-” Kent sputtered.

“No,” Alexei interrupted, “no excuses. Only good excuse is “I have secret boyfriend waiting for me”.”

Kent laughed. “No, I don’t have a secret boyfriend waiting for me.”

If he saw something flicker in Alexei’s eyes, Kent chose to completely ignore it.

Alexei got up and extended his hand for Kent to take it. “Then you are coming with me to bar.”

Kent let out a fake-annoyed huff, but let Alexei help him to his skates, which he hadn’t even bothered to take off yet.

“But you take shower first. Media is gone, but you can shower in our dressing room if you don’t want to see teammates. Falcs have already left.”

No matter how much Kent wanted to take him up on that offer, he knew he couldn’t avoid seeing his teammates forever. Most of them would be gone by now anyway, and hopefully Whits hadn’t decided that he needed a long shower after tonight’s events.

“Thank you, but I think I need to go to my own locker room. My bag is in there anyway.”

Alexei nodded, took out a paper and a pen – where did that come from? – and wrote something down before giving the paper to Kent.

“This is my number. Text me when you are done, I take you to bar.”

Kent would’ve been excited about getting a hot guy’s number – he wasn’t even going to try to lie to himself about the fact that Alexei was a good looking dude – if the guy wasn’t Alexei Mashkov, giant Russian defenseman of the Providence Falconers and probably one of Jack Zimmermann’s best friends.

Wait, was Jack going to be at this bar? No, the Jack Zimmermann Kent knew would probably already be in his bed at the hotel. Kent didn’t know if that was comforting or not.

 

 

 

Even though he felt bad for making Alexei wait, it took him ten minutes to work up the courage to enter the locker-room.

Luckily, Swoops was the only player left. He was sitting in his stall, showered and fully clothed, playing what looked like Temple Run on his phone. Of course Swoops still had Temple Run on his phone.

“Did you wait for me?” Kent asked and Swoops cursed after what Kent assumed was a game over, but then he looked up at Kent sheepishly.

“Yeah. I’m sorry if you didn’t want me to, but I couldn’t just go home without making sure you were gonna be okay.”

Kent had prayed to the hockey gods for the locker room to be empty, but maybe having someone who waited for him and played ancient phone games for ages because he genuinely cared about Kent wasn’t that bad.

Kent smiled. “I think I’ll be okay. But thanks. So, uh- you’re…”

“Okay with you being, uh- not straight?” Swoops ended his question for him. Kent appreciated him not immediately assuming he was gay: he could see how hard Swoops was trying to be supportive. “Dude, you’re one of my best friends. I don’t care if you like boys, or girls, or both, or banana’s – I mean, who doesn’t like bananas? But being sexually attracted to them would be a bit weird – anyway, I love you, bro, and whoever you’re fucking will never change that.”

Kent laughed and the “Who says I’m doing the fucking?” was out before he knew it.

Swoops pulled a face and groaned. “Tmi, dude.”

Before Kent could make his way to the showers, Swoops stuttered: “But, uh- you might not want to talk about it and that’s cool, but, uh…”

In that moment, Kent realized that he had never talked about his sexuality before – even with Jack he had never properly discussed it – and to his own surprise, he wanted to.

“No, it’s fine. I want to. But if you want to talk, you’ll have to do it while I shower because, uh- Mashkov invited me to a bar.” Kent could feel himself blushing. Why was he blushing? He was going to a bar with multiple hockey players to whom he had just lost, god damnit, there was literally no single reason to blush.

Unfortunately, Swoops interpreted Kent’s face the way any other person would, and he raised his eyebrows. “Mashkov? When I said I don’t care who you’re fucking – or who… nope, I’m not even gonna go there – that didn’t include hockey players who just kicked our asses.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, he invited me to a bar with the Falcs!” Kent sputtered.

“Dude, your face looks like a tomato right now,” Swoops smirked.

Kent completely ignored this statement and announced he was going to shower.

“If you want to talk or stare at my glorious butt, you’ll have to come with me.”

Swoops followed. “Speaking of a glorious butt,” he suddenly turned serious, “tell me if I’m going too far, but you and Zimmermann?”

Kent swallowed. “I, uh- yeah, we, uh- shit…”

“Hey, man, it’s okay. You don’t need to tell me.”

“Thanks,” Kent said and he showered in silence for a while until Swoops decided that it was safe to ask another question.

“So, uh- have you ever been with any other… person, besides… him?”

Kent looked at the floor and blushed. Despite popular belief, Kent Parson did not frequently talk about his sex life.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve hooked up with men at bars a few times, but it’s kinda dangerous, being an NHL star and all that. I’m gay, by the way. I know you’ve been avoiding labelling me, and I appreciate it a lot, but I’m 100% into dicks.”

Swoops smiled, visibly proud of himself. “Yeah, I didn’t want to just assume you were gay. I’ve followed the news and I’ve seen how vocal about being bisexual Jack is, and- oh.”

Swoops eyes went wide and he looked at Kent in horror to see if he would start sobbing at the mention of Jack.

“Oh come on, Swoops,” Kent said. “You can say his name. I just cried on the guy’s shoulder on center ice, for fuck’s sake. I just don’t want to talk about our… past, yet.”

Swoops let out a huff in relief. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, so I’ve been following Jack’s story and the media seems to call him gay most of the time despite the fact that he stresses the fact that he’s bisexual a lot, and I didn’t want to do that to you, so…”

“Thanks. Really,” Kent smiled. He grabbed his towel and walked back to his stall to get dressed. He didn’t know what kind of bar they were going to, so he hoped his suit wouldn’t be too fancy. Then he remembered that he was Kent Parson, the king of being too fancy. The Falcs would just have to live with it.

Swoops had apparently decided that interrogation time was over, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to leave until Kent did, as he sat back down in his own stall and went back to playing Temple Run.

 

 

 

5 minutes later Kent sent Alexei a text saying “done, where r u?” and he walked out of the locker room just in time to see Alexei get his phone out of his pocket.

When he saw Kent step through the door, he sheepishly admitted: “Had nothing to do, so I just wait outside of locker room.”

Then he turned to Swoops and offered: “You can come to bar too, if you want.”

“No thanks,” Swoops said, “I think I’m just gonna go home and be bitter about losing.”

“Well, have fun crying while little captain is drinking the pain away,” Alexei laughed before taking Kent’s hand and dragging him towards the exit.

Swoops raised his eyebrows and smirked. “I see. Have fun, _little captain,”_ he said he bit too suggestively for Kent’s taste, and then he fucking _winked_.  

Kent could only pray that Alexei didn’t see. He barely knew the guy; he didn’t want him to think Kent was hitting on him.

If Alexei noticed, he ignored it, because he kept dragging Kent forward until they reached his car, a fancy black one – no, Kent was not a stereotypical jock, he had no idea about cars.

Kent barely managed to keep himself from whining when Alexei dropped his hand. When Alexei walked to the passenger side of the car to hold the door open for him, Kent had to use all his willpower to roll his eyes and act like he wasn’t completely falling apart. Seriously, what was wrong with him? Kent Parson didn’t get crushes, and he definitely didn’t plan to change that any time soon.

So he stepped into the car and stared out of the window for the entire 15-minute drive, telling himself to get his shit together.

By the time they arrived at their destination, a handsome Russian man opening his car door for him – again – wasn’t his biggest concern anymore. The hockey players who had probably hated his guts until today – some might even still hate his guts – that he would undoubtedly encounter inside the bar concerned him more. Why did he agree to coming here again?

It was like Alexei could read his thoughts, because he hit Kent in the arm and said: “Come on, little captain. Falcs leave things one the ice. They won’t bite.”

Kent didn’t really feel any better, but he couldn’t leave now. He’d just have to face them, and he could find an excuse to leave after half an hour or so.

 

All the chill he had left disappeared into thin air when Alexei led him to a table in the back of a cosy, low-key bar – at least the chances that Kent would get recognized in this place were relatively small – and there, sipping at a glass of coke, sat Jack Zimmermann.

_Okay. Stay calm, Kent. You can do this. Just be cool._

Maybe if he kept telling himself to stay calm, it would actually happen. Yeah, right. Not very likely.

Jack looked up, right into Kent’s eyes. Kent expected him to panic, or be angry, but he _smiled_. Jack Zimmerman, hockey robot and frankly the last person Kent expected to be happy about his presence, had just _smiled_ at him. Somehow this only made Kent more nervous.

However, when Alexei and Kent reached the table, Jack said: “Hey, Tater, Kent.”

Kent stared at him for a moment, then turned to Alexei to see if there was any indication of a joke here, and then burst out laughing. The nerves only made his laughing worse and soon he was crying and wheezing.

Alexei and Jack were both staring at him, almost looking worried.

“Tater!” Kent snorted. “Do you actually let them call you that?”

Alexei sighed, relieved that Kent wasn’t having some kind of hysterical attack, and then his relief turned into pride. He smiled proudly and said: “Yeah. Is tiny potato.”

When Kent caught his breath again, he realized that people were looking. For once, they weren’t “Oh my god that is Kent Parson”-looking, though, they were “what is that weirdo doing, is he okay?”-looking. Kent didn’t want to draw any more attention, though, so he hit Alexei in the shoulder and laughed: “I know. It’s a bit of a weird nickname for a giant Russian dude, though. But, whatever, if you’re cool with it.” and he slid into the booth opposite Jack. Alexei sat down next to Kent.

Somehow, Kent felt a lot calmer after laughing like that. He was still sitting at a table with Jack Zimmermann, though, so he did the only thing he was good at except for hockey: act like nothing was wrong and nothing had ever been wrong.

“Jack Zimmermann, at a bar after a game, who would have ever expected that?” Kent laughed. “What happened to Jack ‘I went to sleep at 9pm on new year’s eve’ Zimmermann?”

Jack seemed to have decided that he could pretend like this was just a normal get-together with friends, because he chuckled and answered: “I can afford a cheat day every once in a while.”

Because he was still Kent Parson, the king of talking about other people’s sex lives despite his own being non-existent, Kent said: “Well, I’m sure your boyfriend doesn’t appreciate you wasting your cheat day on us.”

Jack was taken aback by this for a second, but then he replied with a suggestive smirk: “There’s _a lot_ of time in a day before 9pm, Kent. Plenty of time to make sure we’re both tired and relaxed enough to go to sleep.”

Kent choked on his own spit.

Jack laughed. “What? You asked for it.”

“Tmi, Zimms,” Kent coughed.

Alexei raised his eyebrows at the nickname. “Zimmboni! Why you tell me you don’t want nickname to be Zimms but you let little Ace… oh.” He seemed to realize Kent was the reason why Jack didn’t want to be called Zimms and looked around awkwardly before getting up and saying: “I get us some drinks.”

Suddenly Jack’s glass of coke appeared to be incredibly fascinating, because both men stared at it like it was a dragon egg that could hatch any moment.

Kent was so focused on not looking at the man opposite him that he almost jumped when Jack muttered: “I’m sorry.”

Kent’s head shot up. “What?”

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. For cutting you off like that after I… after I overdosed. That wasn’t fair.”

Kent stared at him, mouth wide open. His first instinct was to tell Jack that he didn’t need to apologize. But Jack wasn’t wrong. It hadn’t been fair. Kent had almost lost the person he loved the most, and then said person proceeded to completely ignore his existence for the next 6 years. Maybe Kent deserved an apology.

However, Kent had said and done things he wasn’t proud of too.

“Yeah. I’m sorry too. For that night at the party at Samwell. I should’ve never… I wish I could take back that whole night. And for not being a better friend when we were young. For only thinking about sex, hockey and the draft.” Kent’s eyes filled with tears. “For not seeing how much it was killing you until I found you there, on the floor, cold and pale and barely breathing. For letting the only time I told you I loved you be while I was holding you in my arms, screaming for help and begging you to hold on, to stay alive.”

If he kept talking any longer, Kent would start sobbing in the middle of the bar – Jack didn’t look like he needed much to burst into tears either – so he stopped. This was enough, for now. This was a conversation they shouldn’t be having in a bar anyway.

Jack thought otherwise.

“We… This doesn’t mean I can just forget about the past.”

Kent had expected it. Jack was happy now. He had moved on, and he didn’t need Kent to be a part of his life. It made sense. Kent’s heart broke anyway.

Jack continued, though. “But maybe we don’t have to be strangers anymore, eh? Maybe we can be friends again… one day.”

Kent fought his tears back with all his might. “Yeah,” he breathed. “I would love that.”

Alexei ended the loaded conversation by sliding back into the booth with two beers.

Whether he didn’t notice the strange atmosphere between Jack and Kent or he chose to ignore it, Kent was thankful he didn’t say anything.

“So,” the Russian started, “time to celebrate something worth celebrating. Snowy did not get injured by dirty Aces play today!”

Kent would’ve worried Alexei was holding a grudge from that last game in Providence if it wasn’t for the giant smile that took over his face.

From there on, the conversation turned into friendly banter and Alexei even managed to get one or two ‘Awkward Teen Jack’-stories, after which he bought Kent another beer in exchange for the ‘priceless chirping material’.

After a while, both Kent and Alexei were getting a bit tipsy.

Alexei was not drunk enough to blame what happened next on the alcohol, though.

Sebastian St. Martin approached their table.

“Hey, kid, Tater, Parson,” he greeted them, “mind if I sit down?”

Kent smiled at the man calling Jack, a 25-year old, 6’1” man ‘kid’ and shrugged to indicate that he didn’t mind.

Alexei, however, laughed and said: “Sorry, Marty, no place for heterosexuals at this table!”

Marty’s jaw was on the floor. Jack spit out his coke. Kent choked on his own spit for the second time that night.

Afterwards, Kent realized that it must’ve been quite comical to see the three of them go into ‘shit I need to be supportive but I have no idea what to say’-mode at exactly the same time.

Alexei broke the silence by shrugging and saying: “If we’re all being in the same boat, I might as well tell you guys that I’m in the boat.” He giggled to himself. “Don’t want to be pirate.”

Jack was the first one to come back to his senses and chuckled: “Well, I think an eye patch would look great on you, Tater.”

Alexei shrugged and said: “No, eye patch would cover my beautiful eyes.”

Kent was unaware he was humming and nodding in agreement until Jack raised his eyebrows at him. Kent blushed and averted his eyes to the pint of beer in front of him.

Marty laughed: “Well, I wouldn’t want to force my heterosexuality on you guys!” and he turned around to go back to the table where he had been sitting with some other Falcs.

“No, no! I’m just joke, you can sit with us!” Alexei sputtered.

“Sure, I’ll get us another round of drinks first.”

After that round of beers – and a coke for Jack – they got another one, and another, and by the time they realized it was getting very late and it was time to go home – or back to the hotel, in de Falcs’ case – Kent was tipsy.

Okay, Kent was drunk.

The Falcs’ hotel was just around the corner, so they didn’t have to drive anymore, but Kent’s apartment was too far away to walk.

But when he when he wanted to take his phone to call a taxi, he realized that it wasn’t in his pocket. He must have left it in Alexei’s car.

“Hey, ‘Lexei,” he slurred, “I left my phone in your fancy car. Can I borrow yours to call a cab?”

A weird look crossed Alexei’s eyes at Kent’s drunkenly given nickname, but then he realized what Kent had said and his mouth opened in disbelief.

“No, I take you here, so I should bring you home safe!”

“You can’t drive, Lexi,” Kent giggled as if shortening Alexei’s name was the funniest thing in the world, “you’re drunk.”

Alexei smiled, put his hand on the small of Kent’s back to lead him out of the bar – had it always been that warm in the bar? Kent didn’t know, but he was suddenly very warm – and said: “I’m not being drunk. I stop drinking after second beer.” What? How did Kent not notice that? “I am being responsible adult.”

Marty laughed and slapped Alexei on the back. “Sure, big guy. You’re the embodiment of responsibility.”

When they stepped outside, Alexei withdrew his hand – Kent might or might have not whined quietly – and told Kent to stay put. “I will get car, you wait here.”

The other Falcs wandered off to their hotel, so Kent stayed behind alone with Jack.

“You look happy,” Kent observed.

Jack smiled. “Yeah. I am.”

They waited in comfortable silence for a while until Jack continued. “Are you?”

Kent’s first instinct was to pull up the media smile and assure him he was doing great.

But this was not the media. This was Jack, and for once, he didn’t want to lie.

However, after everything that had happened today, he felt like “no” might not be the honest answer anymore either, so he opted for: “I think I’m getting there.”

Jack just nodded and smiled. They didn’t need to say anything. Communication had never been their forte anyway.

 

 

 

When Kent got in Alexei’s car and turned on his phone, he was overwhelmed with texts and missed calls. His PR manager had called him multiple times and sent a dozen texts talking about doing a press conference to apologize for his behaviour. Kent turned his phone back off. He could deal with this in the morning.

Just like before, the car ride was spent in silence. This time, though, Kent was drunk, which didn’t help his self-control.

His mind screamed: “Alexei is not straight! And he is hot! Look at him driving this fancy car! And those hands! And those arms! And that smile! Oh shit, he’s smiling at me! What do I do? Smile back!”

By the time they reached his apartment building, Kent was going crazy.

When Alexei got out of the car and walked around it to open Kent’s door for him, every ounce of self-control left Kent’s body. He stepped out of the car, looked around to see if there was any press around – he wouldn’t have been surprised if there was – and pulled Alexei in by his tie to crash their lips together.

Alexei made a surprised sound, but then he pushed Kent up against the car and kissed him back, making Kent feel weak at the knees. Kent’s hands flew up to tangle in Alexei’s hair, and Alexei’s groan elicited by slightly pulling at the strands went straight to Kent’s crotch.

“Let’s go inside,” he suggested between kisses.

This seemed to wake Alexei up, and he took a few steps back, untangling himself from Kent.

“I can’t. You are drunk,” he explained.

“I’m not that drunk,” Kent frowned.

“Yes, you are,” Alexei chuckled and he stepped closer again to cup Kent’s face with one of his giant hands. “You have my number. Next time you are at east coast, I show you Providence, and then we can go inside. I’m betting my apartment is cooler than yours anyway.”

“It’s not. My apartment is very cool,” Kent pouted.

Alexei chuckled again and pressed one last soft kiss to his lips before returning to the driver’s side of the car.

“I see you in Providence, little Aces captain.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said I might get this chapter up this weekend? Well, I was very close to giving up on that, but then I wrote 2k words today so here it is, I guess. I'm not really satisfied with this chapter and I don't like it, but I guess I'll leave it up to you to give me feedback about it.  
> Thanks for reading!

Kent groaned as he awoke to the blaring of his alarm, which he had set before he left for the arena the previous day, knowing that he probably wouldn’t get through the night after a game against the Falconers sober enough to remember he had to go to morning skate.

He was about to get out of bed to get some painkillers and a cup of coffee when he remembered the events of the day before.

Shit, he had hit Whits during the game. He wouldn’t just get away with that. He’d have to do a press conference to apologize for his unsportsmanlike behaviour, and explaining why he had punched his own line mate in the face without saying “He was being a homophobic dick to Jack Zimmermann, who happens to be my ex-boyfriend or whatever the fuck we were doing as teenagers” wouldn’t be an easy task.

The rest of the night got progressively blurrier as he consumed more alcohol, but he hadn’t completely blacked out, as he could still remember-

Fuck, fuck, fuck, he had kissed Alexei Mashkov.

And Alexei had… kissed him back?

Kent flopped back on the bed, with his face down into the pillow. How had he gotten himself into this mess?

Just as Kent was about to decide to quit playing hockey and spend the rest of his life locked up in his apartment, his house phone rang. He cursed himself for still having the stupid thing. He had gotten it installed when he had first moved into the apartment because his mom still didn’t have a mobile phone, but she had finally given into technology a while back, so the house phone was completely useless.

Until now, apparently.

He contemplated just not picking up, but if something was urgent enough to track down this number, it must’ve been important, so he got himself to his feet and made his way to the kitchen.

“Hello?” he asked, too tired to bother with proper manners.

“Kent Vincent Parson!” Katie, the Aces’ assistant manager, shouted. “How dare you turn your phone off and just disappear after doing something like that! You could’ve been hurt!”

Kent smiled. She would kick his ass for this, but at least she did it because she cared about him.

“I’m sorry, Katie, I just went to a bar with the Falcs.”

“Yeah, Swoops told me that! Otherwise I wouldn’t have waited until now to call this number! Or I would’ve just showed up at your apartment, probably walking in on you and some girl you picked up at that bar!”

Kent froze. She didn’t know?

Katie wasn’t fazed by his lack of answer at all and just kept ranting: “I hope you’re planning to show up at morning skate, Kent, hungover or not! And you better get your ass in my office afterwards!”

“I’m gay.”

Silence.

“That’s why I hit Whits. Now, excuse me, I have to get ready for morning skate.”

“No, Kent, wai-”

Kent ended the call, breathing heavily.

 

 

Surprisingly, he didn’t regret it. Katie would’ve found out eventually, and he trusted her. This would make it easier for everyone to handle the situation they were currently in.

Plus, Kent couldn’t deny that had felt _good_. Terrifying, but good.

More so, it felt liberating. Katie knew, and there was nothing Kent could do to take that back. He wouldn’t have to spend the whole morning trying to come up with an explanation for his behaviour. The only thing he could do now was getting ready to see his team at morning skate.

 

 

As soon as he entered the locker room, he concluded that the players who had been on the ice hadn’t told the rest of the team about Kent’s sexuality, as all the guys who had been on the bench gave him a weird look, perhaps waiting for an explanation for his behaviour the night before. The guys who knew only gave him an understanding and apologetic look.  

With the exception of Whits, of course. You’d think he’d learned his lesson.

“Hey,” he exclaimed when he saw Kent had entered the room, “if it isn’t our little gay superstar, Kent Parson!”

The room went quiet. Kent froze.

“You fucking asshole,” he heard Swoops mutter before the goalie got to his feet, took a few big steps and hit Whits square in the jaw.

This seemed to wake everyone up, including Kent, and he quickly grabbed Swoops around the waist to pull him away from Whits.

“It’s okay, Swoops, it’s okay,” he said in an attempt to calm him down.

“It’s not okay!” Swoops snapped, but he didn’t try to fight himself out of Kent’s grasp.

Pete and Robber had apparently given up on civilly trying to keep Whits from fighting Swoops and had him pinned down on the floor. At least Kent knew he could count on his alternate captains.

Coach Griffin chose that exact moment to walk in and froze.

Without addressing his players in any way whatsoever, he fished his phone out of his pocket and called a number.

“Hey, Katie, yes it’s me. I’m gonna need you in the locker room.” He then proceeded to divert his attention to the group. “I was going to wait with addressing this _thing_ that appears to be going on until after morning skate, but seeing as you can’t even get on the ice without trying to kill each other, I guess we’ll have to do this now. I want someone to tell me what the fuck is going on, right now.”

“Parse-” Whits started, but he was cut off by Pete’s hand around his throat.

“You piece of shit,” he spat, “you say one word more, I’m make sure you never touch ice again.”

“I’m gay.”

Silence.

Right at that moment, Katie stormed into the room looking ready to kill someone. Kent couldn’t blame her, assuming she had more than enough work to do after last night’s shenanigans.

She didn’t even ask what had happened. She just took one look at Whits being pinned to the floor by Pete and Robber and figured the rest out on her own.

She turned to Kent and asked: “They know?”

Kent nodded.

Katie could be a scary woman sometimes, but Kent had never seen her this furious.

“White. My office, now. I won’t be there for a while but you better wait for me or-”

She took a deep breath and pinched her nose. “Just go,” she said before she actually threatened her player’s life.

Whits got up and left the room, shooting everyone nasty glares.

Meanwhile, Coach Griffin was still frozen, which terrified Kent. He might be the Aces’ star player, but his coach being a homophobic asshole would without a doubt affect his career.

“So,” Katie started, “I want it to be very clear that there’s no room for bigoted behaviour in this team. If anyone has a problem with Kent’s sexuality, or with anyone else’s sexuality for that matter, I suggest you get over it really quickly. We are a team, and I need everyone to have each other’s backs, on and off the ice. So,” she took a pause to look every one of her players in the eye. “Does anyone else have a problem with Kent?”

A few of the guys shifted a bit uncomfortably, but everyone kept their mouth shut.

“Good. Now get your asses on the ice.”

Everyone got up and made their way towards the rink, including Kent, so Katie added: “Except for you, Kent. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Kent closed his eyes, took a deep breath and turned around. “Sure.”

On his way out, Coach Griffin slapped his back and smiled. “Join us when you’re ready, Parse.”

Somehow, those words meant the world to Kent. Coach was okay with him being gay. Coach wanted him to be on the ice with the team. That was all he could ever wish for.

“Kent, are you okay with staying here, in the locker room?” Katie asked.

Kent just nodded and sat back down in his stall.

“Okay, I’m not going to ask you to tell me things you’re not ready to say, but I need to know everything you’re willing to tell me. We’ll do a press conference tomorrow to address yesterday’s… situation – and maybe something else, but we’ll see about that – and I need to know what you want me to say.”

Something else? What else was there to discuss in a press conference?

Anyway, Kent had more important matters to address.

“I, uh- so, as I said, I’m gay,” he began.

Katie smiled, but remained silent to give Kent the time to think.

Now he’d gotten so far, Kent decided that he might as well tell her the whole story.

“I need you to promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to say, okay?”

Katie nodded. “Of course. Everything stays inside this room as long as you want it to.”

“Okay.” Kent took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was easier to talk if he didn’t have to look Katie in the eye. “When we were in the Q, I had this _thing_ with Jack. Jack Zimmermann.” He was pretty sure she knew which Jack he meant, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to make sure there was no miscommunication. From there on, he just rambled. He told her everything. He told her about Jack, and how Kent always loved him more than he loved Kent, and about all the pressure before the draft, and about the overdose. He told her about how he hadn’t wanted to go to the draft if Jack couldn’t be there with him, but Jack’s parents had thrown him out of the hospital room, so he went anyway. He told her that he had cried himself to sleep for weeks, desperately hoping to wake up the next day realizing this had all been a bad dream. His cheeks stained with tears now, he told hear about how the first time playing the New York Islanders had been torture, because he would’ve given anything to play for them if that meant Jack would be playing for the Aces.

“When I heard he got outed, part of me was terrified. Jack was the only person in the world who knew about me, and now he didn’t have a reason to keep my secret anymore. After a while I realized how ridiculous my fear was – Jack would never out someone against their will – and I feel guilty for even thinking about it.

However, for the most part I was just so angry. Didn’t the media ruin his life enough? They almost killed him, for fuck’s sake!

But then the weeks passed, and Jack seemed… happy. His teammates stood up for him, he posted cute pictures of his boyfriend on social media – which made me significantly less jealous than I expected – and he looked happier than I’d ever seen him before. So when I heard Whits say that stuff to him, I lost it. And well, then I accidentally outed myself to my homophobic teammate.”

“Oh, Kent,” Katie sighed, teary-eyed, and she pulled him into a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

Kent was breathing heavily by now, but he felt unexpectedly calm. Most of this stuff he had never said out loud before. Suddenly he could see why therapy seemed to help people.

He finally opened his eyes and pulled away to look at Katie.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what?”

“For listening. For dealing with me. For being my friend.”

Katie smiled and pulled him back against her. “You’re welcome, Kent.”

“I still have to do the press conference, don’t I?” he sighed.

“Yes. As you don’t have a game tomorrow, we can do it tomorrow, but it’ll have to be done.” She untangled herself from Kent so she could properly talk to him. “I want you to write your own text. Normally the PR team would just tell you what to say, but this time, I want you to say what you think. No media bullshit, just Kent. You’ll have to run it by the PR team, or by me, but to be honest I don’t give a fuck what you say, as long as you mean it. And don’t you dare apologize for standing up to Whits. That’s the only think I ask.”

Kent nodded. It would’ve been easier if he could just read something other people had written for him, but he had to admit it would feel wrong to apologize to Whits, which would surely be the ‘media bullshit’ thing to do.

“Okay. Now get on the ice, so I can go kick Tim’s ass and call Georgia to ask her how the fuck she handles this stuff.”

“Thanks, Katie,” Kent said, and he meant it. She was technically his boss, but lately she had become more than that. She had become a friend.

“Don’t mention it,” she laughed while walking out of the locker room, undoubtedly ready to make Whits regret ever having opened his mouth.

 

 

Kent’s phone buzzed for the umpteenth time that evening, and he considered just throwing it out of the window – he was trying to write a speech here, okay? – until he realized that they would just keep calling if he didn’t pick up. The caller was an unknown number, so he hadn’t picked up, figuring it was probably either some salesman or the press, but neither of those would call 15 times in a row, so he was probably safe.

“Hello?” he said.

“Kenny, finally,” Jack sighed.

“Jack? What happened? Why have you called me 15 times?” Kent started to freak out. Was something wrong? Why would Jack call him so many times if everything was fine?

“Everything’s fine, Kent.” Kent could breathe again. “I just heard that you’ll be doing a press conference tomorrow, and I wanted to tell you to say whatever you need to say. I mean, uh- I… whatever you say, I don’t mind. I think I’ve already gone through the worst part and, you know, they’re gonna assume things anyway so I… I don’t mind.”

Suddenly Kent realized what Jack was talking about.

“Jack, I don’t think I’m coming out.” His own uncertainty surprised Kent.

“Oh. Okay. Sorry. I just wanted to say that, uh- whatever you decide, we’ll have your back.”

“We?” Kent asked.

“You know, me, your team, Tater.” Kent could almost hear Jack’s smirk at the mention of Alexei.

Kent blushed. “What did he tell you?”

“He didn’t tell me anything,” Jack laughed, “but you just confirmed that something happened.”

Kent couldn’t believe he fell for that.

“Shut up,” he chuckled.

“He’s a good guy,” Jack said, more serious now.

Kent didn’t know what to say. He opted for: “Yeah.”

“Oh and, uh… Eric baked you some stuff to, uh… thank you. It’ll probably arrive tomorrow morning.”

This rendered Kent speechless for a second. “He doesn’t hate me?”

“Oh no, he definitely still hates you,” Jack snickered, “but he also realizes that you did an amazing thing there on the ice.”

“Oh, uh… well, tell him that I appreciate it a lot? And that we, uh- I hope he doesn’t hate me forever?”

“I will. Good luck tomorrow, Kent.”

“Thanks.”

“Bye.”

“Bye, Jack.”

The line went dead. Kent smiled.

He finished his speech and went to bed looking forward to the baked goods that would arrive tomorrow.

 

 

Eric’s pies were just as godly as everyone had told him, but they didn’t prevent Kent from being a nervous wreck before walking into the press room.

Swoops, who had stayed after morning skate as support for Kent, squeezed his shoulder and said: “You’ll be fine. Katie has your back in there.”

Kent nodded, more to himself than to Swoops. “Okay. I can do this. It’s just a stupid press conference.”

And it was just that, so why was he this nervous? It wasn’t like he was planning to come out or anything, so why didn’t his brain want to calm down?

He took a deep breath, ignored his stupid nerves, and walked into the room, taking a seat next to Katie, who they’d agreed would say a few words before Kent said what he needed to say.

“I’d like to commence by answering some questions about today’s trade of Tim White,” Katie started. Kent’s head snapped sideways to stare at her with wide eyes.

The Aces traded Whits?

“I think we’re all wondering the same thing,” one of the reporters commented. “Why?”

“Tim White displayed behaviour that we didn’t appreciate at all. My job is to take care of this team and its players, and the best way to do that right now is to let Tim go. I sincerely hope he manages to learn and grow as a person both on and off the ice with the Blackhawks.”

Why had no one told Kent about this? Sure, he had said that the Aces would choose Kent over Whits any day of the week, but that was mostly bluff; he didn’t think they would actually get rid of him.

The next reporter asked: “Tim White was on the Aces’ first line. Aren’t you concerned that this trade will affect your chances to win the Stanley Cup, or even get to the playoffs?”

Kent knew Katie would have a hard time talking herself out of this one. She was an amazing Assistant Manager and she consistently stood her ground at events like this, but the fact that Whits was a valuable member of the team was undeniable. To Kent’s surprise, she didn’t even try to talk herself out of it.

“Yes. In fact, I’m pretty sure this trade will affect our chances, despite the depth this team has built in the past few years. However, I think winning the Cup takes more than just good hockey players. It takes a team, and being a part of a team means having your teammates’ back, both on and off the ice. It means being able to trust your teammates. When a player purposefully tries to hurt an opponent, both physically and mentally, because of the opponent’s sexuality, he doesn’t belong with the Aces. I want a team that can count on each other, no matter what, and I’m willing to make some sacrifices to achieve that.”

A low murmur went through the room. Some people had probably already guessed that this was about homophobia and Jack Zimmermann, but to hear it be confirmed was still unexpected.

Kent had almost forgotten why he was there, until a reporter the next question. “Tim White was not the only player who displayed unsportsmanlike behaviour during that game. Will Kent Parson face any consequences?”

Katie visibly struggled with staying calm and smiling while answering: “No. Kent Parson will not face any consequences. Although I don’t entirely approve of his methods, he did what he did for the right reasons. Now, I think we should let Kent speak for himself.”

She gave him and encouraging smile and nodded. _Whenever you’re ready._

Kent took a deep breath.

“I want to apologize, but not for standing up to Tim. Not for wanting to protect Jack. I want to apologize for doing it in a violent way, and for not taking action sooner to make sure it didn’t have to come to violence. However, I think it’s more important that I apologize to all the children, and possibly parents, who watch every Falcs game because Jack Zimmermann gives them hope. I want to apologize to the children that have been watching what Jack has gone through during the past few weeks, figuring that if they ever achieved their dream and reached the NHL, they would have to choose between staying in the closet and being treated like Jack. I want those children to know that-”

Suddenly, the paper in his hands didn’t seem to say enough. Despite meaning every word of what he’d written, Kent felt like it was closer to another media speech than to what he was actually trying to convey. He folded the piece of paper and stuffed it in his pocket before looking at Katie.

She nodded, giving him permission to say whatever he needed to say.

“You can do anything you want.” He considered his next words for a moment before deciding that he might as well throw a joke in.

“Okay, maybe not anything you want. I know that a lot of you are probably in love with Jack Zimmermann. Nothing to be ashamed about, I’ve been there too.” Gasps. “But unfortunately Eric Bittle’s pies are enough to make anyone want to marry him, so if your dream is to marry Jack Zimmermann, you might want to start searching for another dream,” he chuckled. “Anyway, if your dream is to be an NHL star, not being straight won’t prevent you from doing that. Being bisexual didn’t prevent Jack from being one of the best players in the league. Being gay didn’t prevent me from winning a Stanley Cup. I can’t speak for him, but I’m pretty sure Jack will agree with me when I say we will do everything we can to make sure no one will have to give up on their dream because of who they’re attracted to.”

After a few seconds of complete silence, the entire room erupted in chaos.

“Thank you, that’s it for today!” Katie stated before leading Kent out of the room into an empty closet across the hallway.

“Kent-”

“Shit, Katie, I just came out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know that this is supposed to be a patater fic, but I needed Kent to work through his shit before the patater begins. I promise the next chapter will have plenty of Tater in it!  
> Thank you for reading, and for all the lovely comments!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't suspect to finish this chapter before at least the second half of the week because my dad came to visit me in Paris so I didn't get a chance to write during the weekend, but I wrote almost 3.5k words today so here it is.  
> This chapter finally contains some more Patater content! I wrote some smut for the first time ever (so don't read if you don't like smut), which is a very weird experience, so pls excuse me if it's awful. This turned out much fluffier than i expected, but I kinda like it, and I hope you do too. Thanks for reading!

“Kent, are you internally freaking out right now or are you actually as calm as you look?” Katie asked, visibly concerned.

“Uh… I don’t know?” Kent responded, “I’m just shocked that I did that, but I also feel really fucking relieved? Is that weird?”

Katie smiled and pulled him into a hug. “No, that’s not weird at all. Now, I need you to be LA for the game tomorrow, but you can take today and tomorrow morning off.”

Kent sighed. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I am. Normally I would tell you to take more than one day off, but you’re our best player and with Tim gone, we really need you…”

“Oh! I almost forgot about that,” Kent pulled her tighter against her and he got a lump in his throat. “thank you so much.”

“Oh, Kent. You shouldn’t have to thank me for basic human decency. I truly hope this can be the start of a better NHL.”

“Yeah,” Kent sighed, “me too.”

 

 

A few hours later, Kent stepped into a rental car at LAX and he turned on the GPS to give him directions to Anaheim.

Once he was driving, he called Alexei.

Because he was nervous, Kent started rambling before Alexei could say a word.

“Hey, I’m in the car right now and I’m coming over -”

“Kent.”

“because, you know, I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, but -”

“Kent.”

“I came out. And I’m sober, so now –”

“Kent.”

“I have no reason to not hook up with a cute guy –”

Suddenly, Kent heard someone choke and cough on the other end of the line, but… it was not Alexei?

“You are on speaker,” Alexei chuckled. “I think you break Jack.”

Of course. Jack hearing him say he wanted to hook up with Alexei was exactly what he needed.

“So, I guess you want me out of Tater’s room by the time you get here?” Jack asked.

Actually, Kent didn’t. He was definitely looking forward to soberly kissing Alexei, but he had just become the first openly gay player in the NHL, and maybe talking to the first openly bisexual player in the league wasn’t the worst idea right now.

However, Kent had proven before that he wasn’t great at wording his feelings towards Jack, and this time was no different.

“Unless you _want_ to stay,” he said in the most suggestive voice he could muster.

Alexei snorted and Jack chuckled: “If you want Bits to stop hating you, maybe you shouldn’t propose threesomes involving me, eh?”

Because Kent Parson didn’t know how to stop, he said: “Well, Eric can come too. I’ll _make_ him like me.”

The other end of the line went quiet. Shit, what if he’d gone too far? Had he just ruined any chance of friendship with Jack? Or… what if Jack thought he was serious?

“Kent,” Jack said, and his serious tone did nothing to reduce Kent’s anxiety.

“Yes?”

Of course Jack decided he needed to insert a dramatic pause. Kent was going to explode.

After a few moments, Jack smugly said: “You wish.”

Kent needed to remind himself that he was driving and he would cause an accident if he slammed his head into the steering wheel.

“For fuck’s sake, Jack. For a second I thought you were gonna get mad, or worse, accept the invitation!” Kent exclaimed.

It was quiet for a moment before Jack laughed: “You thought… I’d accept your invitation for… a foursome with you, Bittle and Tater?”

“You never know!” Kent sputtered. “I don’t know more about your sex life than anyone else, who knows what you’re into these days!”

“Yeah,” Jack chuckled, “no thanks.”

“Is not bad,” Alexei chimed in, “I’m have you all for myself.”

“Yeah.” Kent blushed. “I’m, uh- I’m almost there, I think? Some dude called George gave Katie your room number so I’ll be there in a few.”

“Oh, George is not dude!” Alexei laughed, “She is amazing assistant general manager!”

“Oh,” Kent just couldn’t stop making an idiot of himself, could he? “cool. Anyway, I’ll be there soon.”

“I’m look forward to it!” Alexei announced and Kent blushed again.

“I’ll be gone when you arrive,” Jack chuckled.

“Uh, Jack?”

Jack hummed.

“Can you, uh, maybe… stay?” Kent suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable. He hadn’t let himself need anyone since he was 18 years old, but here he was, asking Jack Zimmermann to stay once more.

“For…?” Jack hesitated.

“No, not for sex, you idiot!” Kent laughed. “But I just, uh… I just came out, and…”

“Of course. I’ll wait,” Jack assured him.

 

 

After cursing the entire city of Anaheim for the lack of free parking spots, Kent was finally making his way up to Alexei’s room.

During the past few minutes, the fact that he had come out had truly caught up to him. Everyone knew he was gay. Everyone knew about Jack. He could never take any of that back, and while it was weirdly relieving, Kent was also scared out of his mind. What if some homophobic hockey fan decided to take matters into their own hands and hurt Kent? What if the Aces lost part of their fan base because of him and they’d have to trade him to keep themselves from losing too much money? There were so many ways his coming out could ruin everything.

By the time he reached room number 415, Kent doubted coming out had been a good decision.

He even considered just turning around and walking away, making sure he didn’t drag Alexei into his mess, but he couldn’t. He tried, he walked back to the elevators, but he couldn’t bring himself to push the button. For the first time in years, Kent Parson needed someone. He couldn’t do this alone.

So when the door flew open after Kent barely knocked once to reveal an excited Alexei and Jack standing a few steps behind him, his eyes watered. Alexei’s expression immediately turned soft at the sight of Kent, and without averting his eyes he stated: “Zimmboni, I think Kenny needs a hug.”

Kent was surprised to realize that Tater was stepping aside to let Jack pull Kent into the room and wrap his arms tightly around him. Tater seemed to have known how much Kent needed Jack in this moment before Kent did.

“Are you okay?” Jack whispered into his hair.

Kent struggled to breathe for a few second before choking out a “No.”

Jack sighed shakily, like he was trying to hold back his own tears, and said: “That’s okay. You will be.”

At that, Kent burst out in tears.

He didn’t say anything, he didn’t voice any of his fears, because he knew Jack understood. He just clung to Jack like his life depended on it.

After a few minutes, Kent had almost forgotten that Alexei was there until he heard him softly say: “You need double hug?”

Kent lifted his head from Jack’s chest and looked at Alexei blurry-eyed. He didn’t say anything, just nodded and outstretched his arms. Before he knew it, he was enveloped in two pairs of big hockey players’ arms. He was in the arms of his high school whatever-they-were and a guy he barely ever knew, but Kent had never felt this safe and supported before.

No one said anything. They just stood there in silence, holding each other until Kent calmed down.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Jack distanced himself a bit so he could look Kent in the eye and said: “You know you’re gonna be okay, right? If I can do it, you definitely can too.”

Kent wondered if Jack had any idea how different their lives were.

“Yeah, but you have your friends, and your team, and your parents, and Eric.”

The “I have no one.” was left unspoken, but they all knew it was what he meant.

“You have us.”

Kent looked up at Alexei, and it took all his willpower to stop himself from crying again. Instead, he pulled Alexei down by the back of his neck and kissed him softly.

Immediately he realized that he shouldn’t have done that. They were just supposed to hook up, maybe become friends-with-benefits at most, and Kent was fairly sure that tenderly kissing a guy after he said “You have us.” wasn’t standard hook-up protocol. However, he supposed that nothing about this situation had ever been standard hook-up protocol.

Kent was about to start apologizing when Alexei cupped his face and leaned back in to press another kiss to his lips.

Jack coughed and declared: “Okay, I, uh… Bits wanted to skype tonight, so I’m just… gonna go now.”

He started making his way to the door, and Kent separated himself from Alexei to say: “Hey, Zimms?”

Jack hummed.

“Thank you.”

Jack smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.”

“Zimmboni, tell Itty Bitty that I’m love his apple pie! I’m expect more when we get home!” Alexei laughed.

“Yeah, I’ll tell him.” He then turned around to walk away, but right before he closed the door, he put his head through the opening and smirked: “Be safe, eh?”

“Fuck you, Zimmboni!” Alexei yelled after him, but Jack was already gone.

Suddenly they were alone. Alexei was still laughing in the direction of the door, but Kent suddenly felt the crushing weight of his desire. Whatever if he didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Whatever if this was already far from as casual as it should be. Kent wanted Alexei, and he’d deal with the consequences later.

“No,” he said, and Alexei’s head snapped in his direction, eyes filled with confusion.

“No?” he asked cautiously.

“Don’t fuck Jack,” Kent explained, “fuck me.”

Those two words seemed to change the whole atmosphere in the room, and Alexei stared at him for a few seconds, open-mouthed and with lust-filled eyes, before cursing in Russian, crashing their lips together and backing Kent up against the wall.

The kiss was still affectionate and emotional, but it was also hard and fast and filled with desire. Within a minute, Kent was panting into Alexei’s mouth.

The latter then started mouthing at Kent’s jaw, then his earlobe, which drew a soft whimper out of Kent, before making his way down to nip at his neck. Meanwhile, he started unbuttoning Kent’s shirt.

“You have no idea,” Alexei groaned against his skin. “I’m not stop thinking about you since you kiss me.” His teeth sank into Kent’s neck – that would definitely leave a mark – and Kent could only moan. Who knew his knees could be reduced to liquid so fast? “I’m fall on face this morning at practice because I’m think about you. About lips. About body against mine. About hands in my hair.”

As if on cue, Kent’s hands flew up to tangle in Alexei’s hair.

“That’s so hot,” he moaned before pulling him up to smash their lips together again.

Alexei had finally managed to get Kent’s shirt off and it landed somewhere on the floor beside them. His hands started roaming over Kent’s abs, his ribs, his nipples.

“Fuck,” Kent groaned into the kiss. He fumbled with the hem of Alexei’s shirt for a moment before Alexei broke the kiss to take it off himself. He then proceeded to lift Kent up by his thighs and push him up against the wall again, which was the hottest thing Kent had ever experienced. It was even hotter than Kent had imagined after Alexei had picked him up with one hand after that dirty goal in Providence (What? You can’t expect a man to not be at least a bit aroused by that). Kent quickly wrapped his legs around Alexei. The friction caused by Alexei rolling his hips made Kent whimper, and his fists tightened in the dark strands of hair. This drew a moan from Alexei, and the sound went straight to Kent’s cock. They had to do something, fast, or Kent was going to come in his pants like a teenager.

“Bed,” he commanded.

Alexei hummed in approval and carried him to the bed, sitting down against the headboard so Kent was in his lap.

Kent would die if he had to wear these jeans any longer, though, so he untangled himself from Alexei and stood up to take off his jeans and his boxers, which he threw in the vague direction of where his shirt was lying on the floor. When he looked back at Alexei, the man was sitting on the bed, with his pants still on, staring at him.

“Do you need any help getting those off?” Kent asked, nodding at his jeans.

Alexei didn’t answer the question, but said: “You’re beautiful.”

Kent froze. No one had ever called him beautiful before, and he had no idea what to do with the fluttering feeling in his chest. They just stared in each other’s eyes for a moment, neither of them moving, before Alexei smiled. “Come here.”

How could Kent ever refuse that?

He started moving again, and forgot about the tightness in his chest. Everything became a blur of lust, desire and pleasure.

He quickly unbuckled Alexei’s belt and tugged off his jeans and boxers in one go before straddling his hips again. The moans elicited by the skin-on-skin contact were silenced by another kiss, which was more panting against each other’s lips than actually kissing at this point.

Alexei was big, Kent noticed, and he had trouble wrapping his hand around both of them. Still, the pleasure made Kent’s head fall back and Alexei bit down on his shoulder. When Alexei groaned “Wait.” after a few strokes, Kent froze, worried that he had somehow managed to fuck this up.

However, Alexei was already reaching towards the nightstand to retrieve a bottle of lube, which he opened and squeezed above his own hand.

Kent understood and pulled back his hand, only to tangle it in Alexei’s hair when he wrapped his giant hand around their cocks. He almost screamed in pleasure.

“Shit, Alexei,” he panted, “fuck, I’m not gonna last.”

“’S okay,” Alexei groaned against the skin of Kent’s collarbone before sucking another bruise there. “Me too.”

“Please, fuck, Alexei, don’t stop, please.”

After that, both of them could only moan and whimper as Alexei’s hand sped up.

Embarrassingly fast, Kent felt his orgasm build up. Then, Alexei did something fancy with his wrist, and Kent had to bite down on Alexei’s shoulder to muffle his scream as he came. This sent Alexei over the edge too, and his head fell back against the wall while he worked both of them through their orgasm.

Kent slumped against Alexei, head in the crook of his neck, and they stayed like that for a while with their arms wrapped around each other, until Kent tried to move and felt the sticky mess in between them.

“We should clean up a bit,” he sighed.

“Hmmm,” Alexei whined into Kent’s hair, “I’m not wanting to get up.”

Kent groaned. “Fine. Just stay here and I’ll do all the work.”

He got up and went to the bathroom to clean himself up, and when he was satisfied, he took a wet towel into the bedroom and wiped the sticky mess off Alexei’s stomach.

“There,” he patted Alexei’s abs (damn. his abs.) when he was done, “now you can go to sleep.”

Alexei, who was already dozing off, made grabby hands at Kent and Kent let himself be pulled into his arms before pulling the duvet over both of them.

“Good night, Alexei,” Kent smiled into his chest.

“Good night, котенок.”

Kent didn’t know what that meant, but he had a feeling that he was nowhere near ready to know, so he didn’t ask.

 

 

Kent woke up to an empty bed and the sound of a shower running in the bathroom.

He was definitely not pleased by the former, but he got rid of his annoyance by tiptoeing into the bathroom, sleepily wrapping his arms around Alexei from behind and pressing a kiss to his shoulder blade.

“Kenny,” Kent ignored the flutter in his chest at the nickname, “I’m have practice, I don’t have time.”

“Hmm,” Kent hummed against his muscled back while his hands explored the front. “That’s not what your dick tells me,” he said while lazily stroking Alexei.

Alexei moaned and let his head fall back.

His “But…” was not very convincing, and he didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. He turned around to catch Kent’s lips in a soft kiss while taking Kent in his hand to return the favour.

This was the complete opposite of the previous night. This was soft and slow, in contrast to yesterday’s needy and fast desire.

When they both came a few minutes later, panting against each other’s lips, it wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was everything that Kent had never known he needed.

“I really have to go now,” Alexei sighed when they got out of the shower, sounding way too apologetic, as if Kent didn’t know what being a professional hockey player meant. It was also crossing the hook-up line again, but he doubted that line even existed anymore.

Kent put a hand on his own chest and said quasi-offended: “Are you just gonna leave me here alone? How is a boy like me gonna survive alone in a strange city?”

Alexei smiled. “You can come with me to rink.”

That… didn’t sound like a joke?

“What?” Kent asked.

“You know what I say. Come to practice.”

“Alexei… You- you’re not out,” Kent sputtered.

“Friends can come to practice too. And I don’t care if they know. I trust team. They accept Jack without problem. And the media already has you and Jack. Out players get boring after a while,” Alexei explained.

Kent was dumbfounded. How could Alexei be so calm about this? “You don’t care?”

Alexei shook his head. “I don’t care,” he confirmed. “Now,” he cupped Kent’s face and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, “are you wanting to come to practice with me?”

Kent knew that if he wanted there to be any chance for this to stay a casual hook-up, he had to say no.

He nodded.

Alexei’s face broke into a huge smile and he pressed his lips against Kent’s forehead, which made Kent feel some kind of way.

“Put clothes on, then, котенок.”

That Russian pet name again. Kent didn’t ask what it meant, because he still wasn’t sure he wanted to know, despite just having crushed the last chance of this being just a hook-up.

He got dressed, though, and 20 minutes later they arrived at the rink.

Alexei went to the locker room to get dressed, and Kent found a comfortable place in the stands.

Of course, Jack Zimmermann was already on the ice to shoot some pucks. What else did Kent expect? When he spotted Kent, he waved with a knowing smirk. Kent blushed and flipped him off.

There weren’t that many people at the arena, but unfortunately, they seemed to start recognizing Kent. Before any of them could come up to him, though, a woman got off the bench and walked towards Kent.

“Hey, Kent,” she started, and she extended her hand, “I’m Georgia Martin.”

Kent recognized that name. “Oh! The Falcs’ assistant general manager?”

It would’ve been incredibly awkward if he was wrong, but luckily she nodded.

“Yeah. Did Katie tell you about me?”

Kent was confused. Did Georgia and Katie know each other?

“Uh… no. Jack and … Alexei told me about you,” he explained. “They said very nice things about you,” he added.

Georgia smiled. “Those boys. Anyway, come sit with me on the bench, if you want. You’ll get eaten alive soon if you stay here.”

Kent didn’t know if he was comfortable with talking to the Falcs’ assistant manager, but he had to admit that it couldn’t be worse than staying out here.

He nodded, and she led him down to the bench.

Meanwhile, the players had started taking the ice and they all – all but Jack and Alexei – seemed confusing about Kent’s presence, but most of them smiled politely at him anyway.

“So,” Kent started, because he had decided that he needed to keep the conversation away from the reason of his presence and the events of the previous few days for as long as possible, “how do you know Katie?”

Georgia laughed. “Oh, she’s one of my best friends. We met in college. We even hooked up a few times”, she winked at Kent, “but after a while we decided that we were better off as friends. I think it only made our friendship stronger.”

Kent stared at her, jaw on the floor. Katie hooked up with this gorgeous – Kent was gay, not blind – woman in college? Katie was not straight? No wonder she was so angry about Whits being homophobic.

Georgia seemed to realize that Katie’s attraction to women was new information to Kent, and she panicked. “You didn’t know. Shit, shit, I didn’t mean to out her. I just assumed that with, you know, you coming out and everything, she’d have told you. I’m so sorry, fuck.”

“It’s okay, it was an accident. I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Kent assured her.

Georgia nodded, but she didn’t say anything else, and they watched the team practice in silence.

Kent had to admit it was nice. The sound of skates on ice had always been one of his favourite sounds, and it was kind of interesting to see the way other teams practiced.

He was watching Alexei shoot a series of pucks into the net when Georgia stated: “Tater’s a good guy.”

Kent froze. “Uh…”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, you spent the night in his room and come to watch him practice with giant hickeys on your neck. You’re not even trying to be subtle.”

Kent blushed and pulled his coat up higher around his neck.

“You knew? That he… is not straight?” Kent asked.

“I suspected,” she admitted, “but I didn’t push him. In this organisation, we don’t care about stuff like that. We want our players to play good hockey, that’s it. They can be attracted to whoever they want. As long as they’re safe, I’m happy.”

Kent nodded in amazement. Sure, the Aces had been great about his sexuality, but the Falcs were on another level of acceptance. Suddenly, he understood why Alexei had said he didn’t care if the team found out.

“You know,” Georgia said, “I’m not his mother, so I’m not going to give you the ‘if you hurt him, I’ll break your legs’-speech, but if you hurt him, I’ll break your legs.”

Kent stared down at his hands, which were fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. “We, uh- we’re not…”

Georgia turned to him, looking almost… annoyed?

“Well, then you both better get your shit together because you look at each other like you’re ready to propose or something,” she huffed.

Kent choked on his own spit and doubled over, coughing.

“Anyway,” she laughed, hitting him on the back, “I gotta go. Nice to meet you, Kent.”

He stared at her while she walked away. “Yeah. Nice to meet you,” he murmured.

He suddenly realized that he didn’t have much time left to stay either, and that hurt more than he expected it to.

 

Luckily the team didn’t practice for much longer, so Kent could go say goodbye before he left. He waited for Alexei outside the locker room, which got him some weird looks from the players that arrived before him, and a friendly slap on the arm from Jack.

“Had a good night, eh?” he smirked.

“Shut up and go take a shower, Zimmermann. You smell,” Kent retorted.

“I’ll see you later, Kent,” he laughed before entering the dressing room.

Kent looked at his watch. He really needed to leave, where was Alexei?

Suddenly two long arms wrapped around him.

“Kenny!” Alexei exclaimed, “You still here?”

“Yeah,” Kent smiled up at him, “but I have to leave now.”

Alexei’s face fell a bit, but he quickly recovered. “Oh. Okay,” he cupped Kent’s face and looked down at him tenderly, “I had fun, little Aces captain,” he said, before capturing Kent’s lips in a soft kiss that made Kent’s chest flutter.

“Yeah, me too.”

“I’m still not show you cool apartment, though,” Alexei laughed against his mouth.

Kent pulled away to look into Alexei’s warm brown eyes. He knew that his next words could change his life, but he decided that he was okay with that.

“You can show me your cool apartment next time.”

Alexei’s face lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

“Next time?”

Kent suspected his own smile was just as wide as Alexei’s, if not wider, and he nodded.

“Next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you expect Kent to be afraid from his thing with Alexei being more than just a hook-up? Yes, me too, but here we are.  
> I think there will be one more chapter after this, and then I'll start working on another zimbits fic, which will be a sequel to this sequel to the original zimbits fic. yay me.  
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here it is, I'm sorry it took so long. I just had a really fucking awful week last week, but I'm better and less suicidal now so COOL I GUESS. Anyway, I like the plot of this chapter but I kinda feel like I rushed it a bit? Idk, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

‘Next time’ turned out to take a while, as they were both professional hockey players who lived at opposite sides of the country.

However, after Kent had gotten a text saying ‘ _Good luck at game tonight )))_ ’, they had barely stopped texting.

Texts lead to calls, and calls turned into long skype sessions, but Kent got more confused by the second. What the hell where they doing? Apart from the occasional mind-blowing skype sex, nothing about their interactions indicated that they were more than friends.

After a while, Kent started to believe that maybe that was all this was. Just a nice friends-with-benefits-situation. Kent cursed himself and every god he could think of for letting that hurt so much. It wasn’t like he was falling in love with Alexei or anything. Kent Parson didn’t do love. Not anymore. So why did he desperately want to freeze time and be able to look at his laptop screen forever when he made Alexei laugh? Why did it hurt so much to read the rumours about ‘Alexei Mashkov’s new girlfriend of the week’?

At least Kent didn’t have to worry about the rumours about his own love life anymore, as the media seemed to be a lot less eager to discuss it since it turned out he was gay.

He didn’t mean to, but the Aces had lost again and had no chance of making the playoffs this year, and Alexei was rambling about some romantic restaurants in Providence he wanted to try – come on, was it really necessary to hurt Kent like that? – and Kent just snapped.

“Why don’t you go there with your girlfriend, huh?” he bit.

The confused look as Alexei stared at him instantly filled him with regret.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Alexei, I-”

“You think I’m have girlfriend?” Alexei interrupted him, sounding almost hurt now.

“No… Maybe, I don’t know. Anyway, it’s none of my business,” Kent said, keeping his eyes away from the screen.

“It’s…” Alexei let out a deep sigh before continuing, sounding almost… nervous?  “Look, Kent. I’m wanting to wait to ask until you’re not being so sad about playoffs anymore, but, uh… I still haven’t shown apartment, so maybe you… want to visit after regular season?”

Kent’s jaw hit the floor. “But… the Falcs made the playoffs?”

“Yes. I’m have lots of games, lots of practice, I’m not home all the time, so I understand if you’re not wanting to come, but…” a few seconds of silence, “I miss you.”

Kent’s breath hitched, and his mind went blank while he stared at the big brown eyes on the other end of the call.

Alexei… missed him. Kent was fairly sure that no one had ever missed him before, except maybe his mom, but she didn’t count. He had to clench his teeth as hard as he could to stop his eyes from watering, because he realized that he missed Alexei too. He fucking missed him so much. They had barely spent one day together, but he missed the way Alexei’s eyes sparkled when Kent agreed to any of his stupid ideas, because even though they skyped a lot, it just wasn’t the same through a shitty webcam. He missed hearing Alexei laugh at a shitty joke Kent made, in person, not through skype. He missed the way Alexei would just wrap his whole body around Kent until he formed some kind of big, safe, Russian burrito. Kent had never felt so safe before, not with Jack, not with the team, not even at home with his parents. Not meaning he was incredibly unhappy, but his life had always been pressure, stats, media, hockey, some more pressure and stats, and it seemed like the Mashkov-cocoon kept all that stuff out like a blanket.

Now Kent had experienced the safety of being in Alexei’s arms, he kind of never wanted it to go away again. And that was a scary thought.

Unfortunately, Alexei interpreted his silence negatively. His face fell, and he started apologizing: “I’m sorry, forget I’m ask. Is not like I’m… boyfriend or anything…”

Alexei kept his head firmly down, refusing to look at the camera or even Kent’s face, while Kent was still trying to comprehend those words. Alexei almost sounded disappointed saying that he wasn’t his boyfriend.

“Yes,” Kent breathed.

This made Alexei’s head snap up, eyes filled with confusion. “Yes…?” he questioned.

“Yes, I want to come to Providence after regular season,” Kent clarified.

Alexei’s entire face lit up.

“Okay,” he smiled, and nothing in the whole world could’ve kept Kent from smiling back.

“Okay.”

 

 

2 weeks and 5 games later, Kent stepped on a plane to Providence.

Kit hated traveling and normally he would ask Mary, his cat sitter, to take care of her, but as he had no idea how long he would be gone, Kit was currently living with Swoops.  Kent forced Swoops to send him photos of her every day, though.

For the most part of the flight, Kent was fairly calm. He slept a bit, solved some Sudoku’s – they’re fun, okay? Sue him -  and just enjoyed his first class flight in general, including the champagne. However, about half an hour before landing, Kent’s brain suddenly seemed to comprehend what he was doing, and he panicked.

He had purposefully booked a flight that arrived after Alexei’s practice so he could come pick Kent up at the airport, which had seemed like a great idea at the time, but now he realized what that entailed. Kent would see Alexei for the first time in weeks, which would have been anxiety-inducing enough on its own – Handshake? Hug? Kiss? Jump him like Kent really wanted to? – but now he’d have to do it in the middle of the airport.

Alexei was not out, so kissing and jumping him were out of the question, but was hugging him too much? And even if hugging was okay, with what intensity?

Kent’s mind spiralled down like that for the remained part of the flight and all the way to baggage claim, but every one of his worries disappeared into thin air when he noticed the giant man waiting for him with a sign saying “Little Aces Captain” in big pink letters. He had even put little hearts on the i’s, for fuck’s sake.

As soon as Alexei spotted him, he lowered the sign and started pushing people out of the way with a little too much enthusiasm and force, which resulted in multiple angry looks and muttered insults, but Alexei seemingly couldn’t care less as he quickly approached Kent, who had frozen in place out of fear of ruining the moment by doing something stupid, like kissing Alexei for example.

Before he knew it, though, Kent was lifted off his feet and into Alexei’s embrace. Kent quickly wrapped his arms around Alexei’s neck while gasping in shock.

Then Alexei laughed, and Kent felt every bad emotion he might have been feeling drain out of him.

“Put me down, you goon,” he laughed. If he found himself being disappointed when Alexei obliged and put him back on the floor, he didn’t show it. It did give Kent the chance to properly look at Alexei, and at the look of Alexei’s enormous smile, he couldn’t help but smile back.

Kent then decided that every one of his worries could fuck the fuck off, and he pulled Alexei back into a hug.

“I missed you, Lexi,” he sighed against his chest.

He heard Alexei’s breath hitch, and the arms around his shoulders tightened.

“I missed you too. Let’s go home,” Alexei suggested.

Kent perfectly understood the implications of ‘going home’, and he was quick to agree.

On the way out, Kent was grateful that the planets seemed to have aligned and no one recognised them. Normally, he didn’t mind taking some pictures and signing some shirts, but tonight he just wanted to get back to Alexei’s place as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, between leaving the airport and arriving at Alexei’s apartment, there was a whole 20-minutes long car ride. Despite Alexei’s cheery attitude, Kent could almost cut himself on the tension that hung in the car.

The uncertainty of what was happening was almost killing him. Okay, he was here, in Providence, to stay with Alexei Mashkov, whom he had sex with once – skype sex not included – and talked to every single day since. Kent had no fucking clue wat they were supposed to be now. Was he supposed to take Alexei’s free hand – which, honestly, he really wanted to – or was he reading things wrong and was this strictly a friends with benefits situation? Friends with benefits didn’t hold hands, right? Alexei disrupted Kent’s thoughts when he moved his right hand to the steering wheel. Okay, problem solved.

They spent the car ride in silence, listening to some radio station that only played 2000’s music, until Kent tried to subtly turn up the volume when he heard the familiar first notes of one of his favourite songs. Unfortunately, he completely failed at being subtle and Alexei turned his head, eyebrows lifted.

Kent was about to reach for the volume button again and act like nothing happened, when Alexei spoke for the first time since they entered the car. Only, he wasn’t speaking, he was… singing?

“Baby can’t you see,” he sang, laughing at Kent’s expression of utter disbelief.

“You know this song?” Kent asked.

“Everyone knows song, Kent. I am Russian does not mean I don’t know Britney Spears,” he answered before continuing to sing.

A few seconds later he hit Kent in the arm, without halting his performance, to indicate that he expected Kent to sing along. And well, Kent Parson was not one to refuse a Britney singalong.

And so it happened that Kent Parson, Aces captain, and Alexei Mashkov, Falconers defenseman, smirked at each other for a split second before screaming: “WITH THE TASTE OF YOUR LIPS I’M ON A RIDE.”

What followed was the most epic singalong Kent had ever been a part of, and laughter that didn’t end until Alexei parked his car in the garage of his apartment building, which was honestly a miracle as Alexei had been laughing just as hard as Kent and driving at the same time.

“Come on, let’s go,” Alexei said, smiling while he got out of the car.

Kent quickly followed and retrieved his luggage from the back of the car, but came to a stop in front on the elevator where Alexei was waiting. He could hardly call it an elevator, though. It was a small cage, maybe just big enough for one person, but certainly not for two professional hockey players.

“Uh, Alexei, we’re never gonna fit in there,” Kent remarked.

Alexei looked at him in confusion. “Is not for us, is for suitcase. We take stairs,” he said, nodding towards a door next to the ‘elevator’.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Kent complained while Alexei put his suitcase in the cage, “I’m not taking the stairs. You can carry me.”

To Kent’s surprise, and horror, Alexei pushed the button inside the elevator to send his luggage to the right floor, turned around smirking and said: “Sure.”

He then proceeded to pick Kent up and throw him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing and started mounting the stairs.

Kent was too shocked to even ask to be put down. He just stared at Alexei’s ass – which wasn’t a bad view, to be honest – while Alexei climbed floor after floor.

After a few minutes they finally came to a halt in front of a door on the sixth floor. Alexei put Kent down to search for his keys in his pocket, and a few seconds later they were inside Alexei’s apartment.

They had joked about Kent seeing and judging Alexei’s apartment so often, but Kent didn’t do as much as look around before turning to stare at Alexei.

“You just-” he sputtered, “you picked me up. With one- fuck. That was-”

Alexei just smirked, smugly encouraging him to finish his sentence.

“Fuck,” Kent decided, and he pulled Alexei into a kiss by the back of his neck.

Judging the apartment could wait until tomorrow.

 

 

A few hours later, Kent was lying in Alexei’s bed, with his head on Alexei’s chest, completely boneless. Alexei was absentmindedly playing with Kent’s hair and pressing little kissing into it every once in a while. They would both probably fall asleep in less than two minutes if they wanted to.

“You know, I’ve never really been in a relationship before.” Kent didn’t know why he said it. He didn’t know what made him want to talk about it right now. Maybe it was the incredible sex, maybe it was the tenderness, maybe it was the way he felt truly safe in Alexei’s arms. All he knew was that he couldn’t spend one more minute without talking about what they were doing.

Alexei shifted and rearranged them so they were lying on their sides, facing each other.

“Why not?” he asked.

Kent frowned. His answer to this question had been a lie for so long, but here, in the confines of Alexei’s bedroom, he couldn’t find a single reason to not tell the truth.

“I, uh… Well, Jack never loved me back enough to call it a real relationship,” Alexei’s eyes widened – Kent guessed Jack had never told him the full story about their years in the Q – but he didn’t say anything, waiting for Kent to continue, “and after that I guess it was just too hard. I couldn’t risk being outed and losing my entire career. So I never tried.”

Alexei was quiet for a moment, gently cupping Kent’s jaw and tracing his cheek with his thumb, before asking: “And now?”

This was exactly the direction Kent had wanted the conversation to go in, but he still wasn’t prepared in the slightest. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Alexei leaned in and softly pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Let me say differently. Do you want relationship right now?”

Kent couldn’t do anything but nod. Alexei pulled back a bit to look him in the eyes and smirked: “Have anyone in mind?”

Kent rolled his eyes, but shuffled closer so he could press his lips against Alexei’s.

The kiss didn’t end with that one small peck, and soon Alexei deepened the kiss. They lazily made out like that for a while, but they were both too tired to take it any further.

They broke apart, and Kent cuddled up close to Alexei again. He found that his head fit in the crook of his neck perfectly.

“I don’t know what I’m doing. I might be the worst boyfriend ever,” Kent whispered against the skin of his neck.

Alexei kissed his temple and smiled. “As long as I can hear you say ‘boyfriend’, I can handle bad boyfriend.”

Kent let his eyes fall closed. Right before he completely drifted off to unconsciousness, he heard Alexei whisper into his hair: “I’m not know what I do either, котенок. We can learn together.”

For the first time in years, Kent went to sleep completely and utterly happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was originally planning to let this be the last chapter and make it a long one, but as it has been almost two weeks since I uploaded the previous chapter, I decided to split it up. So, one more chapter to go!   
> After this fic, we'll go back to zimbits (unless anyone has other requests for this universe?), but that might take a while.   
> Thank you so much for reading this story!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for abandoning this fic, I just couldn't find the energy to write in the past few weeks. But then I got some comments last week, which encouraged me to write again. So thank you to everyone who commented on this, you really make a difference!   
> This chapter is a bit shorter, but I think the next chapter (which will probably be the last) is gonna be a long one!   
> Thanks for reading!

They easily fell into a routine. They woke up early for a morning run – even though his season was over, Kent wanted to stay in shape too – and afterwards Alexei would go to morning skate and Kent would lounge around at home. Kent’s favourite moment of the day, though, was walking into the kitchen after his post-run shower to find Alexei making breakfast. He’d wrap his arms around Alexei’s waist and plaster himself against his back, just silently enjoying the quiet tune Alexei always hummed under his breath and the smell of breakfast.   
He’d go to home games and explore Providence when Alexei was in Ottawa. People had started noticing him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. As long as it didn’t hurt Alexei, people could think whatever they wanted. Kent even enjoyed reading the various theories as to what he was doing in Providence. They ranged from being back together with Jack – Kent honestly worried for the people who believed this theory, didn’t they see Jack and Eric being all lovey-dovey all over the internet? – to checking out the team and the city in case he wanted to sign here when his contract ran out next season – which wasn’t even that ridiculous, had he not already been in the process of signing a new contract with the Aces.   
The Falcs won in 5 games. The celebratory sex was almost better than hoisting the actual Stanley Cup in the air.   
Everything was absolutely perfect, until one day, the day of the first game against the Habs, Kent got a call from Swoops while Alexei was at morning skate.   
When Alexei came home, he found Kent sitting on the kitchen floor, shaking. His cheeks were stained with tears and he was clenching his fist around his phone as if he could undo the call by breaking his phone.   
Alexei fell to his knees in front of him, not touching him.   
“Kenny,” his voice waivered, “Kenny, please, tell me what’s being wrong.”   
Another sob forced its way out of Kent’s throat and he fell forward into Alexei’s chest.   
“S-Swoops called. Kit… Kit ate something wrong and she- and she’s- the doctor’s not sure if she’ll make it.”  
“Oh Kenny,” Alexei sighed, “have you booked flight yet?”   
Kent looked up at Alexei.   
“What?”   
“Have you booked flight to Vegas yet?” he repeated, “To go to Kit.”   
“You- You’d be okay with that? If I just left?” Kent asked, staring at his knees.   
“Of course.” He pressed a kiss to Kent’s hair. “I see how much you love Kit; I can not keep you here when she needs you. You can take her back with you when she is better, if you still want to come here.”   
“I love you.”   
Kent knew it was too soon. They knew each other barely a few months. But if he had learned one thing during his messy life, it was that he never wanted to wait to tell someone he loved them again. He never wanted to risk being too late to say it again.   
When Alexei didn’t say anything for a few seconds, Kent started to panic. He had fucked it up. He finally let himself love someone again, and now he had scared him away.   
Then, Alexei tilted Kent’s chin up to look him in the eye. His soft, watery eyes, filled with love, surprised Kent.   
“I love you too, Kenny.”   
Kent’s breath hitched.   
He had wanted to hear those words for so long. 18-year-old Kent would’ve done anything to hear Jack say those words.   
25-year-old Kent was so happy it was Alexei saying them.   
“Say it again,” Kent nearly begged.   
He hadn’t even realised he was crying again until Alexei brushed the tears from his cheeks. Alexei leaned in and pressed his lips to the cheekbone his thumb had just traced.   
“I love you,” he whispered against Kent’s skin.   
A kiss to the other cheek.  
“I love you.”  
His forehead.   
“I love you.”   
His nose.   
“I love you.”   
His lips.  
“I’m keep loving you as long as you let me.”   
Kent couldn’t stop his tears from flowing and honestly, he didn’t want to. They were happy tears, and maybe he deserved some happy tears. He buried his face in Alexei’s neck and let himself be held for a moment.   
Then he straightened and got to his feet.  
“I need to go to Vegas,” he declared.   
“Of course,” Alexei said, “I make bag while you book flight?”  
Kent nodded. “Just pack the necessities. I’ll be back before you know it.”   
At this, Alexei cupped Kent’s cheeks and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.   
“I look forward to it.”   
Alexei turned around and made his way towards the bedroom, and Kent quickly opened his laptop, hoping he would be able to catch a flight as soon as possible. And there it was, a flight to Las Vegas in an hour and a half.   
“Lexi!” he shouted through the apartment, “Can I catch a flight in an hour and a half?”   
“Yes!” Alexei yelled back, “I’ll drive you to airport!”   
Suddenly Kent realised that it was a game day for Alexei. Alexei shouldn’t be this distracted right now. By the time Alexei walked into the kitchen, Kent had convinced himself that he was a burden and that he was keeping Alexei from playing his best.   
He tried to hide it, but to no avail.   
“Kenny? What is being wrong?” he asked worriedly, quickly making his way over to Kent to take his face in his giant hands.   
Kent sighed.   
“I’m just- I don’t know; I just don’t want to be a burden. You have a game today, you should be taking your pre-game nap right now, you don’t have time to worry about me.”   
Alexei’s brows furrowed.   
“Is just game, Kenny. You don’t think pre-game nap is more important than you, right?”   
He said it as if that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, and Kent ducked his head to stare at Alexei’s chest.   
Alexei moved his hand to tilt Kent’s chin up. Kent didn’t want to hear what he was about to say. He knew Alexei meant well, but no variation of “I will ruin my pre-game routine because you need me” would make Kent feel any better.   
However, Alexei surprised him by softly asking: “Would you feel better if I take pre-game nap now instead of taking you to the airport?”   
Kent nodded, not trusting his voice to work. He was fairly sure any attempt to speak would immediately betray the tears that threatened to spill at the thought of leaving while Alexei stayed behind in his apartment, of having to make his way to the airport alone and miserable.   
Alexei smiled softly and stepped away from Kent to retrieve his phone from where he left it on the kitchen counter. Kent barely managed to contain a whine at the loss of contact.   
Of course Alexei noticed, and he moved closer again to pull Kent against his side while he went through his contacts. To Kent’s surprise, his search ended at ‘Itty Bitty’.   
“What-” Kent started, but Alexei had already dialled the number and put the call on speaker, and Eric picked up as fast as though he had been staring at his phone.   
“Hey, Tater, is everything okay?” he said, noticeably worried, “Shouldn’t you be having your nap right now?”   
Alexei chuckled. “Pre-game nap, everyone is so worried about pre-game nap!”  
“What do you mean?” Eric asked.   
“Well, I’m actually call you about pre-game nap, because Kenny is worried too.” Eric knew about them, since they had given Jack permission to tell him, but the ease and confidence with which Alexei talked about him still astonished Kent. “He needs to go home to Kit and he wants me to take nap instead of bringing him to airport. I can not ask Jack because he needs nap too, so can you drive him to airport right now?”   
Eric was silent for a minute, and Kent was certain he’d refuse. Honestly, Kent was a little bit scared of Eric Bittle, so he wasn’t sure he even wanted him to agree.   
Eric sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there in five.”   
Then the line went dead.   
Kent stared at Alexei. “He hates me.”   
“Yes,” Alexei agreed, smiling widely, “but you want him to like you, right? Well, car ride is excellent way to get to know each other!”   
Kent groaned and buried his face in his hands.   
“Now,” Alexei added, “I want goodbye kiss.”   
Kent looked up, and his giant Russian boyfriend was honest to god pouting. Kent couldn’t help but smile through the tears that were forming again.   
He pulled Alexei in by the back of his neck, and his resolve to keep this a gentle goodbye kiss disappeared as soon as Alexei moved slightly to push him up against the kitchen counter.   
The kiss was wet, teeth clacking and tongues brushing, and it was so fucking good and over way too fast.   
“Come on,” Alexei said, slightly heavy-breathed, and he took Kent’s arm in one hand and his bag in the other. At the front door, Kent closed his eyes and let himself enjoy a last kiss pressed to his forehead.   
“I’ll be back before you know it,” he promised.   
“With Kit?” Alexei asked, his lips still brushing against Kent’s skin.   
“Yeah. With Kit,” Kent chuckled. 

Alexei walked him down the stairs to the front of the building where Eric was already waiting in Jack’s truck.   
Kent dreaded this car ride, but he was also grateful that he didn’t have to take a taxi on his own.   
He opened the passenger’s door, and right before he got into the car, Alexei called after him: “Hey, котенок?”   
Kent hummed.   
“I love you.”   
Kent almost died right on the spot. He was pretty sure he would never get used to that.   
“I love you too,” he smiled, “now go take that nap, and win for me.”   
Alexei laughed. “I don’t win for you, I win for Kit!”   
He gestured for Kent to get in the car and reluctantly, Kent obeyed.   
Eric started the engine and drove away. When he looked back, he saw Alexei waving at them enthusiastically before making his way back inside.   
“He looks happy.”   
Kent almost jumped out of his seat. He had expected a passive-aggressive hello or just silence, not a soft smile and a voice full of love.   
When Kent didn’t react, Eric asked: “Do you really love him?”   
“Yes,” Kent immediately answered.   
Eric nodded, seemingly content with the response. “I know I’m small, but if you hurt him, you won’t know what hit you. You should be scared of me,” he threatened.   
“I already am, to be honest,” Kent murmured before he realised he was saying it out loud.   
Eric shot him a disbelieving look and chuckled.   
“However,” he continued, “Alexei seems to like you a lot. And Jack might not be as vocal about it, but he would like things to be better between you two too.”  
Eric sighed, and Kent remained silent, waiting for him to continue.   
“I’m not gonna stand in the way of that,” he said eventually. “For their sake, I can try to forget about the Kent Parson I think I know, and get to know the real one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea for a pianist!Jack fic, and I already kinda outlined it and everything, would anyone be interested in that?   
> Anyway, thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it! Thanks for sticking with me and my slow updates! I turned 18 and came out yesterday and got out the last chapter of this, so I guess it's been a productive few days for me. I don't think this is the end of this series, but it might be a while before i start my next fic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

Someone banging on his door woke Kent up from his afternoon nap, and Kent was ready to murder whoever had the audacity to bother him. After a long night of worrying about Kit, he had finally fallen asleep with Kit next to him on the pillow, and he was under no conditions ready to get out of bed any time soon. However, the noise didn’t stop when Kent ignored it, so he grunted, gave Kit a loving stroke and rolled out of bed. Not even putting a t-shirt on, he made his way to the front door. Whoever had woken him up would just have to deal with his indecency.

He opened the door and immediately had an armful of his Russian and Canadian alternates.

“Captain!” Pete yelled way too loud for Kent’s barely awake brain, “We miss you a lot! You leave and not tell team why you go to Providence!”

Well shit. Kent definitely wasn’t ready to tell half of his team, who were all standing in his doorway, about Alexei right now. He would need at least 5 days of preparation time and a lot of alcohol to do that. But he didn’t have any other believable reason to be in Providence either, he was pretty sure his team wouldn’t believe him if he told them he was looking for a contract with the Falcs.  

Luckily Swoops swooped in – his nickname definitely suited him – to save Kent.

“Hey, Pete, let’s give Kent some space to breathe and not interrogate him when he clearly just woke up,” he said, pulling the large Russian away from Kent. Then he shot Kent a look.

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” Kent smirked, and that was that before he was wrapped up in his best friend’s arms.

“You look happier, though,” Swoops whispered only for Kent to hear, and he pulled away with a knowing smile.

“Come on, boys!” Robber urged, “Enough emotional reunions, more alcohol and hockey!”

Everyone but Kent and Swoops cheered and ran over to Kent’s couch to secure the best spots in front of the tv.

“What?” Kent asked, confused by the whole situation.

“Oh, we’re drinking all your alcohol and watching the Habs get their asses handed to them by the Falcs tonight,” Swoops explained. Then he leaned in closer so he could whisper in Kent’s ear: “I’m sure you don’t want to miss your boy stealing the spotlight again, do you?”

Kent blushed, but he knew he couldn’t deny that. When he had gotten off the plane two days ago, he had received a text saying: _‘Like promise, I win for Kit, now you tell her she has to get better!!!’_

He had – correctly – assumed the Falcs had won the game, but he hadn’t even remotely expected to find out that Alexei had practically single-handedly kicked the Habs’ asses. He had gotten two goals and assists on both Jack’s and St-Martin’s goals, and had apparently been a defensive wall. Kent had watched the recording as soon as he could, and cursed himself for not taking a flight that allowed him to watch the game live.

So when Swoops said Kent wouldn’t want to miss this game for the world, he was absolutely right, but Kent hadn’t anticipated doing it with ten of his teammates sprawled over various pieces of furniture in his living room.

He sighed, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it anyway, and made his way to the kitchen to get some beers. Putting nine down on the coffee table and opening one for himself, he was ready to establish dominance over his favourite sofa.

“Move,” he ordered.

Brent, a rookie defenseman, immediately jumped of the sofa.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” he started to apologise, but Kent interrupted him.

“Not you, Brenny. As my favourite rookie, you can stay.”

Their other rookie, Mike, yelled some obscenities and everyone laughed.

“You try to kiss him when you were drunk after loss, I wouldn’t want to sit next to you if I’m Kent!” Pete laughed.

Mike blushed. “That was one time, and I was really drunk!”

Kent decided to take pity on his rookie and continued: “You, however,” he pointed at Robin, “can put your Canadian ass elsewhere.”

Robber got up without a fight, but when he plopped down on the carpet next to the couch, he smirked at Kent and said: “I though you liked Canadian ass.”

Kent didn’t even try to chirp back and just flipped off all his hollering teammates. At least he got his spot on the sofa, wedged in between Brenny and Swoops.

“I’m hungry!” Pete whined, “Parse, you have any food?”

“Nope,” Kent said, only now realising that he should probably have dinner too, “just order some pizza.”

So that’s how Kent ended up full of pizza and a bit tipsy while watching his boyfriend’s game with his oblivious teammates. Despite having to tone down the surge of pride he felt every time Alexei made a good play, he enjoyed spending some time with his friends.

His weird and embarrassing friends.

Five minutes before the final whistle the Falcs were leading 3-1, which was a score Kent didn’t trust at all. Before you know it, 3-1 leads are obliterated and there’s nothing you can do about it. So when the Habs got a breakaway, Kent could hear everyone in the room hold their breaths.

But there, seemingly out of nowhere, was Alexei, denying Brendan Gallagher a shot on goal.

While Kent tried his best to keep his heart-eyes in check, Mimi, their backup goalie, exclaimed loudly: “Shit, you guys ever have that feeling when a play is too fucking beautiful? I like to call it hockey orgasm, and that,” he pointed at the tv, “hockey orgasm, my dudes.”

Swoops giggled next to Kent, and the latter elbowed him in the ribs while staring at Mimi in disbelief.

Play continued while everyone forced Mimi to swear to never use the words ‘hockey orgasm’ ever again, and Kent turned back to the tv right in time to see Alexei flying through the air and hitting the ice. Hard.

The whole room went silent as soon as they looked at the screen after Kent’s sharp intake of breath. Kent was sure everyone could hear his heart beat faster than it ever had.

Alexei was not getting up. He tried, but fell back down immediately. His teammates and the team doctors gathered around him and he was still not getting up.

By the time his teammates and doctors dragged Alexei off the ice, Kent couldn’t breathe anymore. He could barely see anymore. The only thing he saw was the replay the tv was showing. Again and again and again.

He vaguely registered Swoops dropping down on his knees in front of him and begging him to breathe, but he couldn’t.

“Call him,” Kent croaked out.

“Kent, your phone is in your hand,” Swoops said, softly, as if he was scared to hurt Kent by speaking too loudly, “if you want me to call someone, you need to give it to me.”

Kent nodded and stretched out his hand.

He didn’t know how Swoops knew his passcode, but he was grateful for it. Ten seconds later, Swoops was holding the phone to Kent’s ear, and Kent managed to take it himself with his shaking hand.

The phone rang and rang and rang.

“This is Alexei. I’m not here now, but you can leave message and I call you back!”

Kent burst out in tears at the sound of Alexei’s voice.

“Lexi, please call me. You went down and…” Kent hiccupped, “you didn’t get up and- fuck Lexi I’m so scared. Please call me. I love you, so much.”

He let his hands fall into his lap, and suddenly Swoops pulled him into a hug.

“He’s- He’s not picking up,” Kent sobbed into his best friend’s shoulder.

Swoops gently rubbed his back. “I know. He’s probably still getting looked at by the doctors. He’ll call you as soon as he can, I promise.”

When Kent had finally calmed down enough to untangle himself from Swoops and look up at the rest of his shocked teammates, he didn’t even have enough time to give them an explanation before his phone rang. He didn’t even look at the caller ID as he picked up.

Fully expecting to hear Alexei’s voice, he was slightly disappointed when a familiar voice said: “Hey Kent, this is Georgia, the Falcs assistant manager. I-”

“Where’s Alexei, how’s he doing?” he interrupted her.

She chuckled at his stubbornness and explained: “Alexei is still with the doctors, but he begged me to call you to tell you he’ll be fine.”

“Will he?” Kent asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“He will. Eventually,” she sighed.

A shiver ran down Kent’s spine.

“Can I talk to him?”

Kent heard her cover the phone and talk to someone in the background before she told him: “Okay. But only a minute.”

Kent exhaled for what seemed like the first time in hours.

Then his favourite voice in the entire world softly said “Kenny,” in his ear, and the tears started flowing again.

“Lexi,” he sighed through his tears

Alexei made a shushing sound.

“Don’t cry, котенок, I am fine,” he assured Kent.

Kent scoffed.

“Are you? You didn’t get up, Lexi!” a sob pulled through his body, “I was so scared.”

“I have concussion.” 

Kent expected it. He truly did. But he still felt as if the breath was punched out of his lungs.

“How bad?” he managed to ask.

“Don’t know yet. Maybe I’m not play the rest of playoffs,” Alexei admitted, and now Kent could hear the tears through his voice too.

“I’ll come home as soon as possible,” Kent promised, “I’ll take care of you, and you’ll be back on the ice before you know it.”

Kent didn’t know if he was reassuring himself or Alexei, but it didn’t matter.

“No,” Alexei said, to Kent’s surprise, “you can not leave Kit. You take care of her and then you come home with her.”

“But-” Kent started, but Alexei didn’t let him finish.

“I know Kit means a lot to you, Kenny. Means home. I want you to feel home here, with me and with Kit.”

Kent already felt more at home in Providence with Alexei than he ever had in Vegas, but he conceded nonetheless.

“Okay. Expect me in a few days, with Kit,” he said.

“I look forward to it,” Alexei said and Kent could almost hear his smile.

Suddenly he realised the situation he had gotten himself into.

“Uh, by the way, I, uh- I might have accidentally outed you to my teammates by having a panic attack in front of them…” he admitted, “do you mind if I tell them, about, uh- about us?”

Alexei laughed.

“Of course, I don’t mind, котенок. I want to tell whole world about us!”

Kent must’ve heard that wrong. Alexei couldn’t have possibly said what Kent thought he said.

“Kenny?” Alexei asked when the silence went on for too long.

“You- You what?” Kent asked, dumbfounded.

Alexei audibly panicked on the other side of the line.

“I, uh- Maybe I come out after playoffs?” he explained, “But, you don’t have to! I can do alone!”

“Lexi, I’m already out,” Kent reminded him.

Alexei sighed.

“Yeah, I know, but maybe you’re not wanting to be out as my boyfriend…”

Kent was so dumbstruck for a second that he forgot to answer, but when he got himself together he sputtered, “Of course I do! Of course I want everyone to know! I want to go on real dates with you, and I want to take you to those boring ass events management makes me go to, because you’ll probably still find a way to make them fun, and because I love you!”

Alexei let out a shaky breath.

“We talk about it when you come home, okay?” he suggested, “I have to go now.”

“Okay. Skype tomorrow?” Kent asked.

“Yes, I’m wanting to see your face. Oh, and Kenny?”

“Yes?”

“I love you too.”

The call disconnected.

Kent let the phone drop onto his lap, and immediately the room broke into chaos. The only things Kent could make out were an exasperated “Mashkov!” and a triumphant “I knew it!”. Only Swoops turned to look Kent in the eyes and softly asked: “You love him?”

Kent nodded, unable to hide his lovesick smile. Despite the bad news, hearing Alexei’s voice had made him feel a lot better.

Swoops pulled him into a hug.

“I’m happy for you, man. He seems like a good guy.”

Kent chuckled into Swoops’ shoulder, still partly in shock from all the events of the past hour or so.

“Yeah. He is.”

“Kent Vincent Parson!” Mimi shouted, ending the heartfelt moment between two best friends, “You are going to tell us exactly what is going on with Mashkov, right now!”

So Kent did.

He told them about that first night at the bar after he had outed himself to Whits. He told them about their first night together after he had come out for real, a story which was met with a lot of groans and “tmi!”-s. He told them about all the skype sessions – he kept it PG though – and the weeks he spent in Providence. He admitted how much he already felt at home with Alexei, and how much it had hurt to leave.

When he finished, all his teammates were looking at him with the dopiest smiles on their faces.

“You really do love him,” Robber said.

Kent blushed.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

 

* * *

 

 

3 days later, Kent arrived at T.F. Green Airport wishing he hadn’t insisted that Alexei stayed at home to rest instead of picking Kent up.

After one horribly long taxi ride and way too many stairs, he finally let himself into Alexei’s apartment, only to discover the whole place was dark and quiet.

He finally found his boyfriend in bed with his hand clasped around his phone, and in a – Kent groaned – Parson jersey. He couldn’t deny he wanted to rip it right off, but Alexei looked too adorable – and too concussed – to wake him up, so Kent just stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed next to him.

Alexei barely woke up, but he pulled Kent closer and murmured something that sounded like Kent’s name.

Kent slept better than he had in days.

 

* * *

 

 

 “Mashkov to Fitzgerald, back to Mashkov at the point!”

Kent was sure he was dying. These amounts of stress were almost definitely lethal.

“Nice read by PK Subban, and Snow plays the puck behind the net with 40 seconds left in the power play and 50 in regulation. If the Falconers can’t capitalize on this man advantage, the fans will get some more hockey in this final game of the Stanley Cup Final!”

Initially, Kent had tried to stop Alexei from coming back so early. No matter what he said, everyone knew that he hadn’t fully recovered from his concussion. But then again, Kent was a hockey player himself and he knew that if there was any chance to play in the Stanley Cup Finals, Alexei would take it, no matter how worried Kent was. So there he was, on the ice during the power play in the final seconds of regulation time in game 7.

Kent hadn’t even been this stressed when he won his own Stanley Cup. Bittle, who was sitting next to him, didn’t look any better.

“Zimmermann enters the zone, 30 seconds left, passes to Mashkov, back to Zimmermann, ZIMMERMANN SCORES!”

The arena went wild. Kent was crying, Bittle was crying, the whole Falconers bench toppled over each other in their haste to hug their teammates and coaches. On the ice, Jack was buried under a mountain of teammates, and Kent was pretty sure Jack was crying too.

Not waiting for the last 20 seconds of the game to tick down, Kent and Bittle ran down to where they would be allowed onto the ice after the game and the formalities.

Kent’s heart threatened to beat out of his chest. This was it. Bittle smiled at him through his tears and squeezed his shoulder in support.

Then the clock said 00:00 and it was over. The Falconers had won the Cup.

The madness afterwards was heart-warming, but agonizing for Kent. The handshakes, the Conn Smythe – which was awarded to Jack Zimmermann, unsurprisingly – all the players hoisting the Cup, Kent didn’t remember it all taking so long when he went through it himself.

But then the partners and family members were given the green light to get onto the ice, and Kent’s breath hitched when his eyes met Alexei’s. Alexei looked as if he was about to skate over to Kent, until Jack stopped him and apparently told him to wait, to Kent’s annoyance.

Then Jack made his way towards Randall Robinson – whose hockey nickname was apparently ‘Thirdy’, although Kent had never asked why – who was still holding the Cup, and after a short conversation, Thirdy handed it over.

Kent wasn’t the only one who was confused, and reporters started to swarm towards Jack to see what was happening.

To everyone’s surprise, Jack pushed the Cup into Alexei’s hands and gave him a nod.

Afterwards, Kent would learn that Jack had told Alexei: “If you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it properly. Now, go get your man.”

And so Alexei did. He skated towards Kent – Kent was fairly sure an exact copy of Alexei’s smile could be found on his own face – and lifted the Cup in the air right before he crashed into him.

Cameras flashed around them.

Then Alexei kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! My next fic will either be the nhl!bitty sequel to this or a pianist!Jack fic, I don't know yet, so let me know what you prefer!


End file.
